Longer chapter to make up for the shortness of the last one, almost entirely eiri/kyo, but the next chapter should shake things up a little.
As always reviews are much appreciated, a special thank you to SwordxSen as hers are always so sweet and encouraging. I hope you like this chapter!
Kyo's flat was dull after he left, and Eiri spent most of the day working on his latest novel; his fingers dancing over the keys with a precision and speed built up over years of writing. It was almost a relief to find Kyo's refrigerator practically empty by the time midday rolled around, as it gave him something to do. He guessed that Kyousuke didn't go out to buy groceries too often, from what he had gathered Kyo worked long hours for little pay, although where he worked exactly Eiri still did not know.
He drove to the nearest supermarket, wondering whether Kyousuke still liked tempura as much as he used to; but then again, Satsuki used to make the best tempura... He decided against it, and wandered the aisles looking for a suitable alternative. He might as well put something towards dinner considering he was living with Kyo, although who knew how long that would last.
He wondered whether he was taking advantage of Kyo. He had betrayed him once before, and it was going to take a long time, if ever, to rebuild the bond of trust they had shared; Kyousuke wasn't lying when he said it was difficult for him to have Eiri around, and he found himself wondering whether it was fair to do this to him. But then, what about this situation was fair? Leaving Shuichi hadn't been fair, but going back now would be even worse. All Eiri knew was that right now all he wanted was for Kyo to trust him again.
He ran a hand through his hair as he stood in front of a shelf of noodles, staring at the labels without really reading them. He had acted stupidly. Sleeping with Kyo, packing up and leaving Shuichi all because of one crazy spontaneous mistake... but then it hadn't been a mistake. Although Eiri felt sad, guilty, about the way he'd left Shuichi, it was easy to push it to the back of his mind, drowned out by an overwhelming sense of... of happiness. Of warmth, at the chance to make things right with Kyousuke. If he fixed things with him, it would be almost as if he had made up for the mistakes of the past, and it was more than that. It was that feeling he used to get when he looked at Yuki; that feeling of overwhelming adoration. It wasn't there all the time, but that first night with Kyo, just for a minute, it had threatened to overcome him completely.
It made him feel vulnerable, that feeling, it was usually something he ran away from. But Shuichi had shown him that running away would only make him miserable. And he had been right. Eiri had no intention of running away from Kyo.
Kyo was pissed when he got home from work, in both senses of the word. He slammed the door to the apartment unceremoniously, kicking his shoes off as he tried to scrub the rain out of his hair with his hands. He pulled off his wet jacket and dropped it on the floor before heading straight for the refrigerator, ignoring Eiri as he sat on the floor, back to the wall and laptop resting on his legs. He continued to type as Kyo entered the kitchen behind him.
Kyo pulled open the door of the fridge. "What the fuck is this?"
Eiri didn't look up from the computer screen. "You were running a little low." He stated flatly.
"So you thought you'd just go out and restock my fucking refrigerator like I'm some kind of charity case?" Kyo yelled, throwing up his hands.
"I'm not gonna be a fucking... kept boy." He spat. Eiri said nothing, deleting his last sentence and proceeding to retype it. "Hey!" Kyo called to him, coming out of the kitchen to stand a little unsteadily in front of him. "Are you listening to me?"
"Hey!" Eiri stopped, his fingers pausing just a fraction from the keys. He looked up at Kyo, his eyes blazing over the top of his glasses. "There was no food in your goddamned house Kyo, what the hell was I supposed to do?"
"How about you go back to your own goddamned house?" Kyo slurred venomously.
"You want me to leave?" Eiri questioned, closing the laptop and placing it on the floor beside him before removing his glasses and folding them on top. He stood.
"Yes I want you to leave!" Kyo fumed. "I told you, one night. Time's up Eiri."
Eiri stepped towards him. "What will it take to persuade you otherwise?"
"No." Kyo moved back towards the kitchen. "You're not pulling that shit with me again." Eiri followed, leaning against the door frame as Kyo lit a cigarette. "This is my fucking house," he was muttering as Eiri came up behind him and wrapped his arms around his waist. He kissed his neck just as Kyo took the cigarette in his mouth, inhaling deeply and massaging his forehead. "Eiri.." he started to say.
He dropped the cigarette in the sink and turned around the face him, "stop it," he urged as Eiri leaned into him again, "you don't want me. You have to go." Eiri ignored him, moving from his mouth, but Kyo grabbed his shirt at the shoulders. "You can't keep doing this to me." He hissed. "I know you. I know what you're doing. And you know that I'll let you because you know how much I fucking love you." The tears started coming as he was choking out the words, his jaw clenched. "It's not fair Eiri! It's not! I can't do it again!"
Eiri stopped, stunned, then horribly guilty. His hands moved to Kyo's face. "I'm sorry." He breathed. "I'm sorry." Kyo's hands still clutched at Eiri's shirt. "I can't... I can't do it. The closer I get... the more it's gonna hurt when you leave." Eiri didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything, just pulled Kyo into an embrace and held him there. Kyo pushed him back, into the wall between the kitchen and the main room. "Stop!" He yelled in his face, tears flowing freely now. Eiri moved his hands to Kyo's elbows, "Kyo, you're drunk." He stated gently.
"It's okay, it's okay." He pulled Kyo's hands away from his shirt, so that he could no longer maintain the distance between them. "No." Kyo was sobbing as he pulled out of Eiri's grasp and stumbled backward. "Kyo. I'm not going to do anything –"
"I hate you!" Kyo yelled. "I hate you!" And suddenly Eiri was reminded of the old Kyo, and he knew what to do. He moved to where Kyo stood, "Kyousuke..." he breathed. Kyo froze. "It's okay."
"I don't..."
Eiri shushed him, "it's okay." He stepped forward slowly, as if approaching a nervous stray. Kyo started to back off but Eiri caught him gently. "Listen to me." He urged softly. "Kyo."
"I'm sorry. I want to make up for it." He insisted. "I want to make up for what I did. Please, let me."
"I can't –"
"You're not listening. It'll be different this time. I promise."
"I –"
"Come on. You should get some rest, you can sleep on it." Kyo struggled out of his grip again and began to protest, but stopped, lifting a hand to his head and groaning. He steadied himself on the counter behind him as Eiri watched, a bemused smile playing on his lips. Kyo had worn himself out.
"I think maybe you had a little too much to drink." Eiri stated, leaning nonchalantly against the counter opposite. "You think?" Was Kyo's bitter response. He moved away from the counter and swayed forward, Eiri caught him as he passed out.
Genji Rukachi was a happy man. He smiled broadly as he entered his office; he had finally got a story that would make him rich. His big break. And for just ¥120,000, a fraction of the money this kind of news would make. Eiri Yuki; acclaimed romance novelist and A list celebrity, having a secret affair with a mystery stranger? The fans would just lap it up.
And the photos... they were the best part. Genji had made a point of incessantly tailing Mr Yuki for the next few days after his first visit to the stranger; Nami had refused to give a name, claiming that surely it was not necessary. Although following Eiri had quickly become tedious, Genji had received his reward just three days later, when Mr Yuki had slipped out of his house just after ten and driven straight back to the apartment he had visited that first time. It was then that Genji had managed to get into the hotel opposite and book a room with a balcony, so that he could look straight across and through the windows of the apartment opposite...
It had been worth the trouble he'd gone to getting into the hotel when he saw the fight through the window; using his digital camera like a pair of binoculars he had zoomed in on the scene as it unfolded before him, snapping picture after picture as what started out as a grapple had quickly descended into something else altogether.
And then; that priceless image, showing Eiri Yuki, his starched white shirt almost as dishevelled as his distinctive blonde hair, arms wrapped possessively around the waist of another handsome, shirtless man as their mouths locked forcefully together. Genji had captured everything.
Kyo was still dressed in yesterday's combat pants when he woke, unable to remember how he had got to bed last night. His head throbbed uncomfortably, a familiar but no less unpleasant sensation. He groaned and rolled onto his back, brown eyes fluttering open. Sunlight was streaming into the room, illuminating a mess of golden hair just below the window. Eiri sat; his back to the wall, at the foot of the futon, typing away at his laptop. "Morning sunshine," he grunted, his voice laden with sarcasm, as Kyo stirred.
"What time is it?" Kyo croaked in response.
"Just past eleven."
"What? Shit! I have to be at work," Kyo cried, lurching into a sitting position even as his hand flew to his head.
"Don't move." Eiri commanded. "I called in. Told them you were sick."
"What?" Kyo groaned, rubbing his throbbing temples. "You don't even know where I –"
"Called your work number." Eiri explained impatiently, waving Kyo's cell phone at him, though his eyes remained on the laptop screen.
"But I'm not sick. Why didn't you wake me?"
"As a matter of fact you are." Eiri countered, finally taking his eyes off the computer to survey Kyo over the top of his glasses. "You're running a pretty high fever since you got drenched on your way home last night. I figured you could use some sleep. You can thank me later."
Kyo frowned, "I'm fine."
"You're not fine. Go to sleep."
Kyo hesitated, then lay back reluctantly. He hadn't taken a single day off work since he got here. He worked in a tire factory, and cheap labour was easily expendable. "If I lose my job..."
"You won't." Eiri had gone back to typing. Kyo shifted uncomfortably in the bed, feeling redundant, but couldn't find the energy to get up. He noticed Eiri glancing at him over the top of the laptop screen as he pulled the bed sheets up over his bare chest. "What?" He grunted irritably.
"You have a fever."
"And?"
"You need to cool down."
"It's freezing."
"You think you're freezing because you have a fever." Eiri sighed. "You're actually over heating;" he stood and crossed to Kyo's side, before crouching and placing a hand against his forehead. "What are you doing?" Kyo moaned, frowning.
"I'm checking your temperature."
"I'm fine."
Eiri sighed. "You're so much more compliant when you're asleep."
Kyo grunted indignantly but said nothing, and allowed Eiri to rest his cool hand against flushed skin. "No better," Eiri murmured, looking a little concerned. He stood, "you want anything to eat?"
"Just water; and I could do with a cigarette."
Eiri smiled wryly and left the room, coming back with a glass of water which he placed on the floor beside Kyo's bed. He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and placed it gently between Kyo's lips, before plucking his lighter from the same pocket and allowing the small flame to lick the end of it. Kyo closed his eyes, lifting a hand to his mouth as he inhaled, then took the cigarette between his fingers to sigh out the smoke. He relaxed, even allowing Eiri to fold back the thin sheets so that he was once again uncovered from the waist up.
"What happened last night?" Kyo breathed quietly.
"You don't remember?"
"Not really." Eiri raised his eyebrows. Everything Kyo had said about him leaving had clearly been forgotten. He wasn't about to remind him.
"We had a fight. It doesn't matter. You passed out and I brought you in here. You slept like a baby."
"Did you sleep?" Kyo asked, re opening his eyes. They were slightly clouded with the fever and his hangover, but still reasonably lucid.
"A little," Eiri responded, sitting beside Kyo. He noticed him shiver slightly, and remembered he had taken some painkillers from the bathroom cupboard; he reached back into his pocket, trading the lighter for a strip of pills and popping two out into his palm.
"Sit up," he directed Kyo.
"What? Why?"
Eiri showed him the pills. "These should help with your hangover, and hopefully regulate your temperature."
Kyo sighed and struggled to push himself up; Eiri took the cigarette from his hand and placed it in his own mouth before passing Kyo the pills, leaving his hands free to guide him into a sitting position.
He handed Kyo the glass from the floor and watched him place a pill on his tongue and swallow it in a mouthful of water. He took a drag on the cigarette as Kyo swallowed the second pill, watching the way his Adam's apple moved when he swallowed.
There was something magnetically attractive about this uncharacteristically submissive Kyo, and Eiri let his eyes roam freely over face and body, both covered in a sheen of sweat. "Stop staring at me," Kyo demanded bluntly, lying back and holding out his hand for the cigarette. Eiri smiled, handing it over.
"Eiri... did you ever break up with that little pink haired kid?" Eiri was a little taken aback at the directness of Kyo's question, but there was no malice in his voice.
"Who, Shuichi?"
"Well how many kids with pink hair do you know?" Kyo mocked, exhaling a cloud of smoke.
Eiri's smile returned. "Of course I broke up with him. I wanted to be with you." He hoped Kyo would understand the sincerity of his words. "His face is on your lighter."
Eiri blinked. Of course Kyo would be hurt by that, it would only fuel his distrust. How could he be so stupid? Using that lighter?
"It's old. It doesn't mean anything."
Kyo gave no response, and they maintained a companionable silence for a while. He held the cigarette loosely, and Eiri plucked it from his hand as it started to droop back toward the bed. Kyo fell asleep. Eiri stood and carried the cigarette back into the main room where he stubbed it out in the ash tray on the coffee table. He ran a hand through his hair as he re entered Kyo's bedroom. He shivered in his sleep, and Eiri relented, slipping out of his shirt, he crossed to the futon and lay down beside Kyo, pulling the sheets up to his own waist, Kyo was a heavy sleeper, and it was easy to pull him close so that his head rested on Eiri's chest.
Gravitating towards the source of the warmth. Kyo murmured something unintelligible in sleep and shifted closer, his arm sliding up so that his fingers curled against Eiri's neck, the side of his face was pressed to Eiri's skin and he could feel Kyo's eyelashes twitch slightly against him. He left his fingers slide through Kyo's hair as he slept, listening to his breathing as he lay there.
It was exceedingly out of character for Eiri to be this relaxed, that he could allow himself to just lie here with Kyo, to forget about his deadlines and his appointments and all those little things pressing in at him from the corners of his mind. But here in this little apartment, away from the sounds and smells of Tokyo... It was like their own little world, where nothing else really mattered. His work, his family, even Shuichi, here it was as if they were simply figures of his imagination, he could pretend they didn't even exist. He wrapped his free hand loosely around Kyo's waist, thinking of nothing but the warmth of the sunlight on his face and the soft sound of Kyo's breathing.